Friday, August 31, 2007

I just finished the round robin art journal entitled "River." I loved the size of the book, which was quite small and I also liked working on the black sheets. I originally was going to illustrate the Neil Young song "Down By the River" but in the end opted for these lyrics by Garth Brooks.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

I had fun with these ATCs. I found a bunch of old photos of myself, and painted snake "hair" directly on the photograph.More about moi. Check out Karen Landie's IndieArts website. She has posted an article I wrote about artist trading cards and about ATC Quarterly. My own ATCs are going to be featured in a show on her January 2008 DVD magazine. I am thrilled!

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

I always wanted to be one of those folks whose job was to name the colours of lipstick or nail polish. My last trip to Oregon inspired me to name the colours of Oregon. I used Pantone swatches to determine the exact colour based on my photos. Crater Lake was the bluest blue I had ever seen.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Today is our monthly ATC trade and Carol and Elisabeth are coming from Montreal and stopping here first for lunch. I was inspired to try the recipe for Beet & Tomato Salad from the current issue of Martha Stewart Living.Let's just say, roasting the beets was a pain (next time I'd just boil them) and my version features heirloom beets (golden and red and white varieties from my garden) instead of the classic deep red beets. Looks pretty close to Martha's version though. Let's just hope it tastes good.

Friday, August 24, 2007

Sifting through the photos of my trip to Oregon, I came across this one I took of an abandoned cafe in a small, ghost town. Besides its forlorn look, I love the fact that I inadvertently snapped a photo of myself taking the photo from the car.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

The round robin art journal is almost at the end of it's circle. My latest addition was to the Patterns book. Somehow in my head it triggered the Simon and Garfunkel song "Patterns." I decided to look it up and sure enough, the word "patterns" is mentioned in each stanza. I used it as the base for the spread and built a pattern around it.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Sarah Fishburn's blog has a sneak peak of her work which is featured in the "Profile of an Artist" column in ATC Quarterly's upcoming issue. Wanna peak? Check out Sarah's blog.P.S. The zine should be printed this week and mailed next week.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

I love finding "Big Things" to add to my collection of photos. I was pleased as punch to pose with Paul Bunyan (there was also his ox "Blue") when we were in Redwood Park last week. We also found an extra large caveman in Caveman Junction, Oregon and a huge Sasquatch in Happy Camp, Oregon. What fun.

Friday, August 17, 2007

On our trip to Joseph, Oregon, we stayed in a lovely cabin which sat by a babbling brook. Very scenic. On our first afternoon there, we sat outside on the deck, drinking wine and eating hors d'oeuvres. Then we heard a loud BANG. Then another. The third bang made it clear we were not wanted on that deck. It seems that a squirrel was sitting high above us in a tall Douglas Fir tree. He was taking great pleasure in throwing down green cones, which hit the tin roof and ricocheted onto the deck. That third cone hit the roof and propelled itself into the mozzarella, basil and tomato salad. We ran for cover and didn't sit on the deck again.But that didn't stop him. If we were in the back yard, close to the house, he fired the arsenal at us there. And each morning at 6 a.m., his work began, smashing those little grenades at the metal roof. Let's just say we didn't need an alarm clock.So each morning, I lay in bed, listening to the bombardment outside (when I really wanted to be sleeping) and thought about the squirrel and his future. I illustrated it in my journal.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Drive-in espresso and coffee shacks are commonplace in Oregon, with each town having at least one or two, depending on its size.At one coffee shack, Richard ordered something called a "Broken Radiator." Other choices at that particular shack included "Express Lane Coffee" and a "Jump Start."In Lostine, we screeched to a halt when we saw this blue banana outside the (what else?) Blue Banana Coffee Shack. It also had a blue VW Bug crashed into the side of it. How could we resist?

Richard snapped this photo of Mt. St. Helens aboard the flight from Portland to Vancouver. (John: what's the mountain behind it?)The trip from Vancouver to Toronto was okay, but now I know why they call it a "red-eye."

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

We've been off the grid here in northeastern Oregon. Three days in Joseph and Lake Wallowa. Richard and I went up to Mt. Howard (elev. 8,200 ft.) by tramway and hiked on trails in the thin air up there. The Blues festival was a hoot. Two thousand people on a huge lawn, listening to wonderful performers. Next day John, Nancy, Richard and I hiked over to Lake Wallowa which is nestled in the valley of the mountains. Pretty darn scenic.On Monday we headed north to Timberline Lodge at Mt. Hood. The Lodge is at 6,000 feet elevation, Mt. Hood is at 11,239 feet. And what an exquisite view! Funny to see folks in mitts and toques on the ski lift, off for a morning of snowboarding or downhill skiing in mid-August. And besides that, "The Shining" starring Jack Nicholson was partially shot here, so I've heard "Here's Johnny" coming from Richard on several occasions.As I write this from a lounge in the lodge, I can look out at Mt. Hood to my left. Pretty incredible.We head back to Portland in a few minutes, once we check out and our plane is at 7 pm tonight. What a fantastic voyage it's been!

Friday, August 10, 2007

Today was a driving day. We made our way from Corvallis and went eastward toward a town called John Day. The land is considered high desert. Richard said he expected John Wayne to ride out at any moment. Basically what grows here is sage brush and juniper trees. Pretty amazing.Tomorrow we're heading for Joseph, Oregon which is in northeastern Oregon, on the border with Idaho for the Bronze, Blues and Brews Festival.

Thursday, August 9, 2007

A wonderful day here in Corvallis. Nancy and I met Roberta Sperling, editor/publisher of RubberStampMadness magazine for lunch. She gave me so many great ideas for growing ATC Quarterly, that my head was spinning with the possibilities. Later on John made a terrific barbecue and we visited with folks I had met in Oregon on my last visit out west: Bill, Diane and Dixon. We seemed to start our conversations where we left off two years ago.

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

We had a laid back day here in Oregon. Nancy took us to this funky organic farm stand/cafe called "Gathering Together Farm" in Philomath. They served lots of various (organic) greens and cold curried carrot soup. Apparently one of the cooks used to work for Alice Waters at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, CA.Later on John and Nancy had a "Farewell to the Rotting Deck" party here in Corvallis. In September they are moving to a funky house in Portland, having spent 9 glorious years in the outskirts and wilderness of Corvallis. We had a fantastic time, drinking too much wine and dancing to disco on the aforementioned rotting deck.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

We spent overnight in Crescent City, California and visited more Redwoods. We even drove through a living tree in our rented SUV. Pretty amazing. On our way back to our home base in Corvallis, Oregon, we stopped in Eugene to visit Downtown Deb, the host of "Dead Air" on Radio KLCC, Eugene. Turns out, she's my first cousin, once removed! I had only met her 20 years ago at a family reunion in New Jersey. We dropped in and hung out at her place for a while and then headed to a fantastic Thai restaurant called Ring of Fire. We chatted a bit about life and the Grateful Dead. She definitely is a font of knowledge about them. Pretty cool.

Having a fantastic time. We did the Oregon Caves on Saturday...the only caves made of marble in North America. Pretty neat. Sunday we headed to California and saw the Redwood Forest. Very awe inspiring.John put together some pix of our journey. Check 'em out on his Picassa site

Saturday, August 4, 2007

Nancy and I went to "Collage," a fantastic store in Portland (Jennifer, you would've gone nuts!). It was by far, the BEST shop I've been in for collage stuff...not just a scrapbooking store but everything you need for collage: antique postcards and labels, the full Claudine Helmuth Poppet line, metal charms, rubber stamps that were really odd and on and on.Then we headed over to Caprial's, a fantastic restaurant run by the gal who has the Food Network show of the same name. We shared an appetizer of hush puppies and I had Salad Nicoise. Yum!A few miles down the road was the Columbia clothing outlet. Richard got a few shirts for $3 and $4 each. I picked up a few tops too.We had a quick visit with Angela at RubberStampMadness. It was great to meet her at last.Tomorrow we're off to the Oregon Caves and California.

Friday, August 3, 2007

Richard and I made it to Portland at last! But not without a bit of excitement. Our plane from Ottawa to Vancouver was 35 minutes late and our next plane (Vancouver to Portland) was already boarding when we deplaned from our first flight. We made it through U.S. customs, claimed our baggage, re-checked the luggage, went through security (again) and then ran to our waiting Dash 8. The gate was on the complete opposite side of the airport (natch!). I was the last person to board that little plane. At any rate, after the short 1 hour trip, flying over scenic Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Hood, John and Nancy were waiting for us at the gate.Off to Corvallis later today.

Thursday, August 2, 2007

The only problem with Peggy's Cove is that there are too many tourists! This photo of the famous lighthouse was the only one I could get without a sea of people around it...plus I like it because it looks so lonely.

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

I traded this set of artist trading cards at our meeting last Saturday. I love the look of those delicate Victorian cakes and scanned them from a wonderful book I have about that period. And here's a hint. Although there are still two weeks left in the Owl & Pussycat ATC challenge in ATC Quarterly, the NEXT challenge, for the winter issue is: Let Them Eat Cake. Okay so now the cat's out of the bag.

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I'm a transplanted urbanite now making my home in rural Eastern Ontario, Canada. I am an artist, writer, animal lover, nature lover, cake baker, and foodie. My blog is kind of like I'm back in Kindergarten and it's "Show and Tell" day.

If you want to reach me: ronna @ mogelon. com (please remove the spaces when you email me). Thanks!

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